The blog page, as we all know, is the page that displays, in the form of a graphical list, the latest (or all) publications that have been made on the site. This page, like most types of pages, has its mandatory requisites, which you will find in this article.
Cover (Hero section)
The hero (😂) section, as it is translated literally, which is obviously incorrect, at least because it does not contribute to the perception and does not carry any meaning in Bulgarian, is the top section of the blog page. Depending on the design of your site, such a section may also be present on all (or some) other pages. In other words, it is not exclusively available on this type of page.
The blog cover should include obvious indicators of the function of the page – that is, it should say that this is a blog page or that the latest publications should be displayed.
Navigation
Of course, like your entire site, this part should also have navigation in the form of a menu containing a logo, but it is possible that the rest of the menu will be specific to this section. In other words, especially with a larger and longer-running blog, it is often necessary to replace the main menu used in the other part of the site with a menu specific to the blog.
The blog menu usually contains the blog’s categories, a search engine, a link to the other part of the site, which is usually “hidden” in the logo. Potentially, you could also add some kind of CTA and/or the ability to subscribe to a newsletter.
To the blog navigation, we should also add the so-called crumbs, which, at your discretion, can use the blog as a front page, or they could also return to the home page.
Layout
It is a good idea to think about how your blog posts will look. Think about what will be displayed on the screen before scrolling (the so-called above the fold, coming from the sale of newspapers, which are usually folded in the middle, and the most important thing should be above this fold).
It is important to note that there are many models for arranging your posts. Newest first, most read first, oldest first (not recommended), of course, you can also put a favorite/selected post at the top that you consider important for your readers to read.
Keep in mind that the grid layout (with 2 – 4 posts per row) has more clutter on the page. This can be useful for you if you want to display more posts, but it can also be detrimental, as people usually have a hard time making decisions when there is a lot of choice. Therefore, if they feel overwhelmed by the amount of information, some of your readers might leave without reading anything.
Individual Posts
Individual posts displayed in a grid or other format on your blog page should have a font that matches your site’s style, but is also distinct enough against the background you’ve chosen. The title of the post should be easily visible. It’s a good idea to include an appropriate image that creates the feeling you’re trying to create in the post, but also matches your brand style.
If a text/description is visible for posts, it should be short and clear, indicating what the specific post is about.
It is important to note that having a button that tells the user where to click to read the selected publication is easier to use than making the entire map clickable.
Categories and Tags
There is an important difference between the essence of categories and tags, as well as their function. By their nature, both serve to taxonomize (divide according to a certain principle) (in this case) the content of a site.
Categories are usually used for large groups of content that have hierarchical relationships with each other. This means that one category can (and often does) encompass other categories within itself. Let’s take one of the most common types of sites – news sites, for example.
In such a site, categories are most often divided by country of origin (in this case – Bulgaria), World, Economy, Politics, etc. It becomes clear that it is difficult to place, and more importantly, arrange all news related to the country in the Bulgaria category. This is so, because the huge amount of news from the country, covering every part of public relations, placed in one place, in one group, in one category, will create absolute chaos and the impossibility of finding the news that a person is looking for. Therefore, these news can be divided into subcategories.
- Bulgaria (category)
- Economy (subcategory)
- Politics (subcategory)
- Sports (subcategory)
- Weather (subcategory)
etc.
International news follows a similar order, but depends mainly on the profile of the site. If it is focused on economics, there is usually a category for Business, Finance, etc. somewhere.
Tags, on the other hand, are a secondary form of aggregation. They are used to collect articles that do not need their own category, but are encountered frequently enough to make their aggregation necessary (and/or useful).
On news sites, tags are often used to collect all articles that mention (as a main participant) the name of a given person. Since, in general, not the personalities, but the news surrounding these personalities is the focus of the content, they should not be placed in a category, but tagging them (unifying them under a “label”) is appropriate and often useful.
There are, of course, exceptions to the examples given. If your site is a tabloid media that focuses exclusively and only on a given industry, etc. “yellows” in it., then nothing prevents you from having an entire category of “personalities”, in which separate subcategories with the names of each of the personalities on whom your media is focused are collected.
Either way, categories are usually more visible, and in some cases they can be placed in a submenu or replace the main menu entirely (as long as you have enough content).
Tag them, place them at the bottom of each post, and if they are important to you, you can also place them in the sidebar of all your posts and on the blog page.
Search engine
If you have more posts or plan to have many posts, give users the opportunity to search for what interests them. The internal search engine of the site is always useful.
Sidebar
Sidebars allow you to add additional links, resources that are related to your blog. This is also the place for search engines, popular posts, most read (over a period of time) posts, advertising banners, “tag clouds” (tag clouds – links to tags that usually do not have a specific arrangement and, in a rough sketch, can be considered a cloud).
Pages
If you have a larger number of posts, it is natural not to put them all on one page, but to divide them into pages. It is customary to have 10-20 posts per page, but this greatly affects their visualization. In any case, it is appropriate to interrupt the list at some point and go to the next page. This, like the pages in a book, allows the reader’s eyes and mind to rest.
